Playboy I greet the challenge of the dawn With weary, bleary eyes; Into the sky so ashen wan I wait the sun to rise;

Confound all aberrations which Make men do foolish things, Like buying bracelets for a bitch, Or witless wedding rings. As if we had not woe enough

'Twas in a pub in Battersea They call the “Rose and Crown,” Quite suddenly, it seemed to me, The Lord was looking down; The Lord was looking from above,

Elisabeth imagines I’ve A yellow streak She deems I have no dash and driv… Jest dogoned weak. ‘A man should be a man,’ says Liz

I look into the aching womb of nig… I look across the mist that masks… The moon is tired and gives but li… The stars have gone to bed. The earth is sick and seems to bre…

The chapel looms against the sky, Above the vine—clad shelves, And as the peasants pass it by They cross themselves. But I alone, I grieve to state,

They thought I’d be a champion; They boasted loud of me. A dozen victories I’d won, The Press was proud of me. I saw myself with glory crowned,

I used to think a pot of ink Held magic in its fluid, And I would ply a pen when I Was hoary a a Druid; But as I scratch my silver thatch

The Porch was blazoned with geran… Myrtle and jasmine meadows lit the… With rose and violet the vale’s pe… Languished to where the hyacinthin… Dreamed tenderly . . . “And I mus…

The meal was o’er, the lamp was li… The family sat in its glow; The Mother never ceased to knit, The Daughter never slacked to sew… The Father read his evening news,

So often in the mid of night I wake me in my bed With utter panic of affright To find my feet are dead; And pace the floor to easy my pain

For failure I was well equipped And should have come to grief, By atavism grimly gripped, A fool beyond belief. But lo! the Lord was good to me,

Father drank himself to death,— Quite enjoyed it. Urged to draw a sober breath He’d avoid it. ‘Save your sympathy,’ said Dad;

I must not let my boy Dick down, Knight of the air. With wings of light he won renown Then crashed somewhere. To fly to France from London town